Li Qiang

Built World

Led highest-level Chinese visit to Pyongyang in 16 years

North Korea sealed its borders on January 23, 2020, before most countries had heard of COVID-19. For six years, the country operated in near-total isolation — trade with China collapsed by 96%, food availability dropped to levels not seen since the famine that killed hundreds of thousands in the 1990s, and not a single foreign tourist set foot in the country for four years. On March 12, 2026, a passenger train departed Beijing for Pyongyang for the first time since that closure, carrying diplomats and businesspeople in just two carriages on a 25-hour journey through the border city of Dandong. Eighteen days later, on March 30, Air China resumed direct flights between Beijing and Pyongyang — the first commercial air service between the two capitals since January 2020. Both services operate under strict restrictions: train passengers must hold business visas, and air travelers are limited to those with official or special-purpose authorization.

Updated Mar 30

Force in Play

Delivered the 2026 Government Work Report to the NPC

For eleven consecutive years, China has increased its military budget by single-digit percentages that nonetheless outpace its own economic growth. The latest installment—a 7% boost to roughly 1.91 trillion yuan ($275 billion), announced at the National People's Congress on March 5, 2026—sets a new record even as Beijing simultaneously lowered its gross domestic product growth target to a range of 4.5–5%, the least ambitious economic goal since 1991. The gap between military spending growth and economic growth has become the signature of a government that treats armed forces modernization as non-negotiable.

Updated Mar 5

Rule Changes

Delivered Government Work Report on March 5, setting 5% GDP target and announcing fiscal measures

China adopted five-year economic planning from the Soviet Union in 1953. Seventy-three years and fourteen plans later, the 15th Five-Year Plan unveiled at Beijing's annual Two Sessions on March 5, 2026, represents the clearest break from the growth-first model that powered China's rise since Deng Xiaoping's reforms in the 1980s. Under Xi Jinping, the plan elevates technological self-reliance and economic security, with $70 billion earmarked for semiconductor incentives, as Premier Li Qiang confirmed in his Government Work Report setting the 2026 GDP target at around 5%.

Updated Mar 5

Money Moves

Delivered the 2026 Government Work Report to the National People's Congress

For three decades, China's annual growth target was a formality — the economy nearly always blew past it. On March 5, Premier Li Qiang set the 2026 target at 4.5% to 5%, the lowest figure Beijing has published since it began the practice in the early 1990s. The downgrade from the previous three years' 'around 5%' signals that China's leadership now expects structurally slower expansion for the foreseeable future.

Updated Mar 5